A Tesla Cybertruck faces the SpaceX Starship as it sits on a launch pad at Starbase near Boca Chica, Texas, on October 12, 2024, ahead of the Starship Flight 5 test. A Tesla and SpaceX superfan from Mississippi filed a petition to formally rename Boca Chica Beach “Cyber Beach.”
SERGIO FLORES/AFP via Getty Images
The name of Boca Chica Beach, the popular “people’s beach” that lies adjacent to the city of Starbase, where Elon Musk’s SpaceX launches rockets into the sky, could soon be changed in homage to the trillionaire’s companies.
Boca Chica Beach’s name could be changed to “Cyber Beach” during a meeting of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names — a part of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) — on Thursday afternoon. But the proposal has drawn stiff backlash, not just from the Rio Grande Valley locals and public officials, but from Musk’s own company town.
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“The City of Starbase does not support the name change from ‘Boca Chica Beach.’ We think that the current beach name is appropriate,” city officials said on X just before 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 8.
The City of Starbase does not support the name change from ‘Boca Chica Beach.’ We think that the current beach name is appropriate.
— StarbaseTX (@StarbaseTX) July 8, 2026
SpaceX and Tesla superfan petitions for Boca Chica Beach name change
The proposal to rename the beach came from an avid SpaceX and Tesla fan who filed a petition on November 25, 2024, according to documents obtained by MySA. Josh Hazel, from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, told the USGS that he and other SpaceX fans often travel to the Valley to watch launches on the beach in their Tesla Cybertrucks.
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“We would love to have a formal declaration of this name as it is representative of the Rocket and Starship which launch just a few hundred yards away,” Hazel said in his application for the name change.
Later, when the USGS asked about using the word “cyber” specifically, Hazel replied that it was a nod to the Tesla Cybertruck, “which is made from the same material as the SpaceX Starship.”
A family spends time together on the shore near the Starship Flight 3 Rocket a day before its scheduled launch at the Starbase facility near Boca Chica beach on March 13, 2024. The popular beach near Starbase could be renamed to “Cyber Beach” after a SpaceX superfan filed a petition with the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
What is Boca Chica Beach?
Boca Chica Beach is an undeveloped stretch of sand that runs from the mouth of the Rio Grande north to the Brazos Santiago Pass — the natural strait that separates South Padre Island from Brazos Island. For generations, locals have called it “Boca Chica Beach.” That name stretches back to 1936 in federal records. But in 1955, the USGS named a portion of it Del Mar Beach. If the renaming is approved, “no portion of the beach would have the official Federal name Boca Chica Beach,” USGS officials said in a January 13 memo.
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Rio Grande Valley officials oppose efforts to rename Boca Chica Beach
Hazel’s proposal has drawn the ire of Valley locals, who have been sounding off on the name change idea since the news broke late Wednesday.
“Good morning to everybody except to Josh Hazel from Mississippi who submitted an application to rename Boca Chica Beach to Cyber Beach,” District 2 Brownsville City Commissioner Linda C. Macias said in a video posted to Facebook Thursday morning.
The renaming is also drawing bipartisan backlash. Cameron County Democratic Party Chair Jared Hockema spurned the effort from people he characterized as “Elon Musk groupies.” State Sen. Adam Hinojosa, and state Rep. Janie Lopez — Valley Republicans who last year authored controversial legislation to give Starbase complete control over Boca Chica Beach closures during SpaceX launches and “spaceflight activities,” have also decried the name Cyber Beach.
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“I write today on behalf of my constituents and the countless Texans who know Boca Chica Beach not as a marketing opportunity, but as a place deeply woven into the history, identity, and character of South Texas,” Lopez said on Facebook.
People watch SpaceX Starship Flight 8 as it is stationed near Orbital Launch Pad A ahead of launch at Boca Chica beach on March 03, 2025 on Boca Chica Beach. The popular beach could be renamed to “Cyber Beach” after a proposal from a Tesla and SpaceX superfan filed a petition with the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Cameron County officials knew of Boca Chica Beach renaming petition for months
Despite being filed in 2024, the renaming proposal has only come to the public’s attention in recent days. But county leaders knew months before “Cyber Beach” became a headline. According to Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr., county officials were informed of the proposal “earlier this year” and formally filed its opposition on April 9. The county wasn’t notified of Thursday’s pending vote until Wednesday evening, Treviño said.
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The USGS told MySA that anyone can propose changing the name of certain places and the idea will be voted on by the board “without any… evaluation of the merits.” Should the board approve a name change, it goes into effect immediately, though “use of the name by any group outside the Federal government would be their decision.”